10-week-old girl fights for life after suffering head injuries

Gardai have launched a major investigation after a 10-week-old baby girl suffered severe head injuries and broken bones.

The newborn was clinging to life last night in a ventilator at Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin.

The tot had been transferred to the Dublin facility after being presented at Our Lady of Lourdes' Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth on Monday evening.

"The baby is in a critical condition, she suffered very serious injuries," a local source said last night.

Distraught

"A large number of her distraught family members are at the hospital with the child."

Officers have devoted "major resources" to the case, sources told the Herald last night.

The baby is the child of young Irish parents who live in an apartment in Ardee, Co Louth.

The baby was brought from that apartment to the hospital in Drogheda on Monday night.

One line of enquiry officers are probing is a claim that the baby suffered horrific injuries after she was thrown out of her pram when three "unknown men" approached and "accidentally" pushed into the father, who was wheeling the baby in a public area in Ardee when they were out for a walk.

Last night sources said these reports are just one strand of the massive garda investigation and "everything is being looked at" in the tragic case.

Account

The alleged incident happened at 7pm on Monday at a location close to the banks of the River Dee, according to the account given to investigating gardai.

Yesterday, officers conducted a number of searches in the Ardee area and gathered CCTV to assist with their detailed probe. No arrests have been made in the investigation.

"A 10-week-old girl was removed from a local hospital in Co Louth on Monday and transferred to a Dublin hospital where she remains in a serious condition," a garda spokesman said.

"The circumstances of how the child received her injuries is now part of a garda investigation."